


He Ain't Heavy

by wildtrapinch



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Gen, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25159756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildtrapinch/pseuds/wildtrapinch
Summary: Snatches of conversation between siblings.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rhus and Ulan are two of my OCs from the video game that has me by my throat. Rhus was originally my only WoL which I RPed here and there, but then I got this dumb idea to make Ulan his sibling. So here we are, I'm making fic to procrastinate from building their shared history from scratch.
> 
> Beta, what beta?
> 
> Note: Mind the spoilers for SHB. I tried to be vague with them, but I had to include some lines of concrete timeline just so this wouldn't be more of an incoherent mess than it already is/

Perhaps he should have expected this, but Rhus is still surprised when his younger sibling returns fire after receiving a teasing (but not really, Rhus was encouring that tall shite with a challenge) about who his eyes are following.

"I'll go after mine if you go after yours."

The Mystel can feel the furrow forming on his brow, making the bridge of his nose move in a way that makes wearing an eyepatch uncomfortable, and he reaches up to adjust it to a position much easier on his skin while still covering his eye. His sibling and fellow Warrior has ever been snappy with the retorts, even as a youngster, which is why the bards love him so, and that's usually to the older brother's amusement... but not today, clearly.

"I'll go after mine if you go after yours," Ulan repeats, placing his hands on his hips as if he's looking to give out a lecture. "I haven't the foggiest how two masters of defense would mesh properly in bed, but that's why a healer's part of that package."

Rhus just had to open his mouth, eh? _You should go after him. It's not as if he lacks interest, he clearly wants to climb you like a tree._

He cant even pretend he doesn't know who or what Ulan is talking about anymore, because he's been silent too long-- his opportunity to lie and have it be truly believable has passed, and even if he did manage to come up with something... Ulan knows him too well to be truly be fooled. While Rhus is an expert in lies, his sibling can read him better than he can lie. Ulan's often discovered his wants and interests much sooner than Rhus himself has, and rightfully points out whenever the older sibling is being a godsdamned idiot when it came to his feelings towards other people.

That damned child (who isn't a child anymore, but will always be Rhus' baby sibling) metaphorically slapped sense into Rhus and pushed him towards Lefric, and Orvyn before him. And now, clearly, the Au Ra is doing his best to push the older Warrior to...

Who, now?

Rhus knows who exactly Ulan means.

However, he's still wary. He's still so wary, and knows he has good reason to be.

"It's too damned soon since Lefric passed," he says, crossing his arms over his chest, tail waving and belying the agitation the older sibling refuses to show on his face. He begins to pace the stones of the Rotunda and drawing a momentary, curious gaze from the Skywatcher. When he shakes his head, she turns back to her weather vane, though he's rather sure that she'll continue to give them a few looks here and there over her notes. Not that it matters to the Mystel, when he's still working on berating his sibling... as soon as he's found the words to do so, because still, speaking of the incident? That no easy feat for him, and he has to settle for something simpler. "The Lakeland attack was just two moons ago at most."

Ulan nods a couple of times, clearly understanding the point, to his brother's relief. At least he understands, even if Rhus knows this ridiculously tall Drahn arse will not be letting this conversation go any time soon...

Or immediately jump back into it, smacking Rhus on the shoulder with the back of a hand and causing Rhus to twist his hips and slap Ulan's dark-scaled tail with the mass of white thick fur that makes up Rhus' own. Then Ulan pats him on the head in what should have been a condescending manner, but Rhus knows this is more affectionate than anything else, given how much shorter his adoptive brother is, and thus the Mystel's head is the easiest for him to reach without much effort. The younger sibling of their lonely duo rarely ever touches other people unless it's to punch them, or push them around playfully.

Or is Rhus and thus is an exception to many things for Ulan.

"Lefric was my friend too, you know. I don't think he would mind you running after the folks you've known for much longer than you've known him." Ulan punctuates that comment with a raised eyebrow, cocking his head so Rhus can indeed see it from his incredibly low vantage point in relation to his seven-fulm-tall sibling, and while Rhus is sure that Ulan trying to simply get the Miqo'te to just think about it, this man is going to stand his ground for now.

(What? He's not made of stone. Just still in mourning.)

"Give me more'n a couple of bloody months, you massive legged snake. Just think about yourself first, and go sweep that tiny redhead into your arms. Look at him, he's covered in blue, your favourite." Rhus waves his hand over his head to ward off any more heavy-handed pats from a scaled hand. He's well aware he may be speaking a little too quickly, tone sounding as if one good push would send him into the territory of panicking, but he thinks he's holding himself together rather well, all things considered. Gods, but he's a mess, isn't he?

Ulan snorts like the dragons his race tends to be likened to more often than not, but with less flames from his nostrils. "Older brother, if you made those two wait for you much longer, they'd be creaky old men before you work up the nerve."

Rhus shoves at him. Plants both of his hands on his sibling's hip and shoves, half to tell him to bugger off, and half to tell him to _bugger off_. Of course, Ulan barely stumbles because his older brother rarely has a mind to actually hurt the overly tall and mouthy bastard. But Ulan is at least an insightful tall and mouthy bastard because he just snickers, raises his hands and backs away from his older sibling to give him some much-needed space.

And... well, if Rhus goes to the Pendants after this to bury his face in his pillows, that's his business.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone decides to just let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i'm done. i had this sitting half-finished for a while and i needed to finish it before i can go on to writing happier things with these idiots

"Honestly Ulan, why don't you just go and keep Alphinaud company? I can do this myself."

Ulan sighs, and runs a hand down his face and winces at the feeling of skin peeling around his scales from having spent days in Camp Dragonhead just waiting for Ishgard to let them in. He honestly wishes he could do something about that because not even glamours to make him look like some overly tall Elezen can help with what actually happens when you shove an Au Ra in a neverending winter, but his brother needs him more than he needs the aesthetician.

No matter how insistent said brother is at making him just stay out of this particular business.

"I am _not_ going to dignify that with an answer," is his response, to which Rhus rolls his eye and sighs back.

It's been a while since the raid on the Waking Sands that killed his adoptive sibling's fiance-- which feels like a lifetime ago, now, even if it's only been half a year since then. And Ulan is well aware of what has been burning a hole into his brother's pocket this entire time.

Rhus has ever had a problem with loss, and developed many unhealthy ways of coping with his grief-- as the younger but larger sibling had noticed in the years that followed their parents' deaths, and Ulan knows that his only living family left would have gone off of the deep end if it weren't for his presence, a vulnerable child that needed to be cared for. He still feels guilt over having forced his brother to become an adult well before he was ready to take on the responsibilities of one, but he's been doing his best to repay Rhus since he himself grew to adulthood by looking out for him.

Hence why he's here in the Black Shroud, sneaking into the Sanctum of the Twelve under the cover of night with his brother-- one of the reasons, in any case. He liked Orvyn as well, not just because the Hyur saved Rhus despite being a stranger, but because he made Rhus _happy_.

Ulan is apparently just around to boost morale however, as he notices when they skirt around the gate to find a good spot to climb-- which Rhus does so damned easily because he's a bloody acrobatic Miqo'te. Ulan however cannot because he's not as athletic as his older brother, he's more likely to knock things over if he attempts to climb the wall the long way. _Why couldn't I have been born Miqo'te as well_ , he grouses slightly before berating himself for the blasphemy against Mother Nhaama, and manipulates his aether to move himself bodily to his brother's location. At least Rhus moves aside obligingly, otherwise the Au Ra would have knocked against him and sent both of them crashing down to the cobblestones, and the noise two full-grown adults would have made such a din to bring the caretakers of the cathedral to their location. That wouldn't be stealthy, not at all.

Though Ulan does have to wait for Rhus to hop down onto the ground and act as an anchor for his spell again, because he is not the most stealthy of people-- he's a bard and black mage, and an Au Ra in Eorzea for godssakes, he practically screams _look at me_. If he were to jump down from the wall like his brother, his boots would make noise and his staff might knock against something.

Perhaps he should have gone with Yugiri to Limsa Lominsa and learned how to be a rogue, rather than spending time being a bard.

But his troubles are over when they make it to the cathedral proper without anyone noticing, the lone night caretaker slumping in his chair when Ulan swiftly casts a spell of sleep at him.

Now is when Ulan has to truly follow his brother's lead, because while he has an _idea_ of what Rhus wants to do, he does not know the _details_. Not to mention he hasn't any clue of what's inside the Sanctum, because he's never been inside it. Both immediately present a problem for him, as he's almost too busy looking around the clean, white walls and opulent decor to notice that his brother is calling for him to follow closely, lest someone see him. Almost, but of course he follows, turning to the right of the cathedral and finding that Rhus' destination is an indoor gazebo at the end of a path through standing water. Ulan imagines that during the day, when light filters through the stained glass windows, it would make a location for newlyweds to show off-- hells, Ulan can imagine his brother and Oryvn there, admiring how their rings look in the light.

Nevermind that Ulan has never seen what an eternity ring looks like. He just knows they're gaudy.

Instead of stepping into the gazebo like he'd assumed, his brother instead crouches down on the edge of the path, looking over the water. There's a cotton pouch in his hand, small and cheap, but clean in the way that it seems like it hasn't often been exposed to the open air and dust. And, as the Au Ra watches, he reaches into the pouch and draws out a wristband unlike anything Ulan has seen, almost transluscent in his brother's hand, and he would have missed it entirely if Rhus hadn't started twirling it around a finger. He's never seen neither man wear their wristlets, so of course he would not know...

But he wonders if he would have been able to recognize them in any case, when they look like _that_.

(Probably not.)

"Honestly, I haven't any idea if this is mine, or Orvyn's." Rhus' tone is almost contemplative, as if he were speaking of a thought-provoking topic, like discussing beast tribes with Urianger. "The wristlet, I mean. I cant exactly see it properly in this lighting."

"Big brother, even if you had both eyes available, and during the day, I don't think you would be able to see it properly, either. I can barely make it out, myself." He punctuates that by dropping heavily onto his backside on the floor beside his sibling, which makes Rhus smirk at him and pat his shoulder.

"You don't have to look at it for too long, it'll be out of our hair soon enough."

Out of his brother's hair, Ulan thinks as he watches Rhus pull the other wristlet out of the pouch as well, a near-perfect twin to the first one in his vision. Then the Miqo'te stands with both in one hand, pull that hand close to his chest, then swing his arm as if he were Yugiri with her throwing daggers. Ulan cant quite follow the trajectory with his eyes, but he can hear the splashing of both bracelets over the water, skipping before they finally sink under the surface.

And Ulan whistles. "That looked decent."

Rhus shakes his head at his sibling, then offers his hand to help him up-- which of course Ulan accepts, because he's pulled to his feet more than he pushes himself up. Then he nods up at the Au Ra.

"Come on, let's get back to Dragonhead before the poor sod outside comes awake and sees us here."


End file.
